How to start a Gift Shop successfully in India

Who on the earth has not visited a “ Gift Shop” or a “Fancy Store”? We all have! Whether it’s for weddings or birthdays, housewarming or anniversary parties, we Indians are bound to carry gifts with us. It has become such a norm in India to gift people on a special occasion in spite of which “Gifting business” is still an underrated small scale business to earn money. 

Trying to figure out good small business ideas? Ever dreamt of starting a “Gift Store” like the one you buy at?

Well, stop dreaming and start doing!

A “Gift Store” is truly a profitable business plan to venture into if you’re looking for some new business ideas.  Of course, there are failures, there are plenty Gift stores that aren’t performing well, mainly because of lack of proper planning or probably there was no planning at all.

Here’s how to start a gift business in India:

Every big business once started small. Plan well before you start taking steps.

Validate your financial plan in the real world.

Estimate how much does the setting up of the business cost you.

Apply for the bank loans if necessary.

Also, try finding private investors.

Know where you should invest, how much to invest.

Go where the people are.

Find a place which a higher chance of selling profitably.

Higher foot traffic the better it is.

If it is beyond your reach, settle for a place with a lot of people coming daily, look for communities that are lacking businesses like the one you want.  

It is always advisable to settle down in the lesser competition area.

Visit gift shops doing well in your area. See their inventory variety and display style.

Note their business hours, location(s), merchandise and items, and services.

Pick out an attractive name for your Gift Shop.

Make your store appealing in and out. Spend some time and money on it to make it’s interior and exterior better. Get some pretty looking shelves attached. The balance between using the space efficiently yet arrange it attractively to get your customers eyeballs over it. Displays inside of the store should also be visually appealing.

Make sure that the displays in your Gift shop, are appealing. Set up seasonally-appropriate displays with a visual flair that will indicate what’s currently in your inventory. Avoid having a cluttered store.

Have a well-stocked gift shop that appeals to a variety of customers. Acquire enough to fill all of your shelf and display space.

Obtain inventory from more than one source.

Visit local craft, art, or trade fairs, and look online on Etsy (or similar websites).

First-time inventory will cost you at least 40k -50k. Again it depends on your business size.

Make sure to include Gift items like Wedding gifts, anniversary gifts, housewarming gifts, birthday gifts, handmade products, trendy gifts, seasonal gifts, and other hot-selling products in your fancy store.

Commonly sold items in a gift store: top selling gift items

1. Soft Toys
2. Diaries
3. Greeting Cards
4. Photo Frames
5. Office Stationery
6. Wall Clocks and Wall Decors
7. Table Tops and Mementos
8. Gift Bags and Packing Sheets
9. Showpiece
10. Coffee Mugs, Ceramic mugs
11. Stuffed Animals
12. T-shirts
13. Handmade collections and other souvenirs.
14. Trending Copper Products
15. Couple Gifts
16. Wallets, Purse, Perfumes
    Also try including personalized gift products – Personalized mugs, t-shirts, clocks, personalized photo frames.

When you first open the gift shop, you’ll be on a tight budget and won’t have money to hire help. After several months or a year, though, if your Gift shop is financially stable enough, start thinking about bringing in additional help.

Think back to the gift shops that you visited. Were most gift shops run by the owners themselves? If not, how many employees worked at the Gift store?

• Choose the right hours.
• Keep in mind that gift shops do most of their business on and around holidays.
• Gift-shop owners rarely get holidays off; in fact, they’re the biggest sales days for nearly all gift store.
• Be ready for such shifts.

• Sales are a great way to draw in customers and acquaint them with parts of your inventory they may not have purchased from before.

• Bookkeep the financial expenditures and income of your Gift shop using Bookkeeping App. As a small gift business owner, you’ll be responsible for keeping track of tax-deductible expenses and paying taxes every year.
• Use small business accounting software like Vyapar to keep track of your business finances, including financial assets, loans (and loan payments), monthly rent payments, and income from sales.

Vyapar Advice

• Run your gift shop business wisely. And moreover, 
• Never find customers for your products. Find products for your customers.
• Pay attention to which items are popular with customers and which items are sitting on the shelves, and mark prices up and down accordingly.
• You could offer gift-wrap services, and charge a small fee (say, Rs. 20 extra) per item wrapped.
• Repeat your small efforts to expand business day in and day out to make it big one day.